Computer Users Fear Clampdown After Pornography Arrest in Japan

Japanese computer users were concerned that electronic censorship may be in the works after police made their first-ever arrest Thursday in connection with pornography made available on the Internet.

Hiroshi Kamekura, 28, is charged with violating a law that bans the public exhibition of obscene pictures. He had dozens of lewd images on his World Wide Web home page.

Police were also questioning a 16-year-old boy for similar reasons in a separate case, and they raided the Internet provider company that both reportedly used.

Experts were divided on whether the actions were isolated or marked the beginning of the kind of cyberspace clampdown seen earlier this year in Germany.

Either way, some feared the arrest could tarnish the image of the international computer network, which is not nearly as widely used in Japan as it is in the United States.

Only 10% of Japanese households have personal computers, compared with 35% in the United States, according to industry estimates.

“There’s been a lot of media hype that the Internet is full of pornography, and I fear that this may aggravate bad publicity,” said Hiroto Kobayashi, editor of the Japanese edition of Wired magazine.

But Kobayashi said he believes the two people being investigated are being used as scapegoats and that police took action only because all parties were situated in Japan and because the case clearly involved lewd pictures, rather than words.

“I don’t think they have the regulatory power to do much more than this, unless the case is very clear-cut,” he said.

If convicted, Kamekura could face up to two years in prison or a fine of $236,000.